Story 64: The Sensitive Lady

When you think of a pitbull or a boxer, do you get the mental of a tough-as-nails, burly pup? If so, this post will certainly shatter any preconceived notions that you might have. Because, well, as I found out early on with Laika, both of these breeds are predisposed to tons of allergies. So, while Laika may have looked imposing, if it weren't for her constantly wagging tail and goofy grin, one of her biggest weaknesses was actually grass. Yes, grass!

I didn't realize until we had a backyard that many of Laika's itchy issues were caused by being in the grass! For the first four years that I took care of her, she would randomly have allergy problems that sometimes seemed to be from things inside the apartment and other times from external threats. She would go from having irritated, crusty eyes one week to a skin rash a few weeks later.

As a result, she became a medicated pup pretty quickly, taking around 3 Benadryl tablets a day to help her get by. At first, these made her sleepy, but after week or so she became immune to the drowsiness effects. This was good, because she basically lived on the pills year-round. At times, she also needed a topical antibiotic also to help with skin infections that would inevitably occur as a result of the allergies. Still, the vet and I had a problem figuring-out the cause.

After moving to a house, though, it became pretty obvious that the wonderful yard where Laika loved to relax and roll around was the main cause of her problems. Grass was not only a delicacy for her, she would eat it like a goat even against explicit requests to stop; but it was also Public Enemy #1 for her skin. Walking, playing or even laying in the grass would cause her to itch or lick her paws incessantly. I attempted to limit her time in the grass, but to no avail. Luckily, it got to the point where the extra Benadryl (6 tablets) to control her cancer helped with the contact allergy to the great, green outdoors. Additionally, her vet, thankfully, started prescribing antibiotics for me to keep on hand in case of skin infection.

Given the difficultly of avoiding grass, we learned to control Laika's reactions to it so she was able to enjoy doing what she loved most: grazing, rolling and running in the yard. Despite the breed-specific stigma of Laika being a fearless ruffian, she was actually quite a sensitive lady. In her last year, she didn't have too many problems with skin infections, except when she stayed at my friends' house and played with their dogs in the yard constantly. However, the first time I took her to the vet for a rash in a sensitive area is still a very memorable event, which the vet and techs never let me live down...